This invention relates generally to rotation sensors and particularly to the use of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) in rotation sensors. Still more particularly, this invention relates to an optics assembly that may be included in a miniature nuclear magnetic resonance gyroscope.
An NMR gyroscope uses optically pumped alkali atoms both to achieve macroscopic nuclear moments in the noble gas nuclei used as the rotation sensors and also to achieve a means of detecting those noble gas moments. In the NMR gyroscope, the spin moment of the Zeeman levels of the alkali are transferred via collisions to the nuclei of noble gas atoms. The subsequent precession of these moments about an applied magnetic field is observed by their effect on the alkali atoms and detected as modulation of a light beam. By comparing the precession frequencies of two noble gas systems, desired rotation effects can be extracted. The basic operation of the NMR gyroscope is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,157,495 (Grover, Kanegsberg, Mark, Meyer). The disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 4,157,495 is incorporated by reference into the present disclosure.